Butterflies in My Garden Today!

Hello Butterfly Friends,

I've been a bit of a lurker on this forum for awhile. I didn't have a good camera and really had a lot to learn.

Thanks to Fly_Girl and all of her private advice and expertise, I have been raising monarchs and swallowtails for a few months. DH even built me a BF cage, thanks to her teachings. I've had more butterflies than I can count and I now have a decent camera to share.

So, these are the pictures of butterflies in my yard, just today! Actually, the caterpillar pictures are from yesterday (I'm learning this new camera). But all of the BF's are from only today. I had a purple hairstreak show up a few days ago.....wish he could have joined the party today.

So, I just wanted to share my new hobby with all of you!

Here's one of many GF cats on my passion vine:

The following 3 pictures are the beautiful adult GF's doing their things!

This message was edited Jul 10, 2007 12:51 AM

Well, for some reason, the pictures aren't posting. I'll keep trying!

Whew....thought I had a ghost in my machine. Next GF pic!

OK....Swallowtail caterpillar! He was mad...see the horns?

Now, a pretty adult Swallowtail on my mexican bauhinia! Love the BF and love the flowers!

This message was edited Jul 10, 2007 12:59 AM

And here's a pretty sulphur (I haven't found any cats for this one yet).

Last but not least, the glorious monarch. I didn't have a good camera back when I had cats (I sure wish I had then but they've been laying eggs).

Those are fantastic poses! Congratulations on your new hobby...Texas seems the place to be for butterflies, that for sure!

Suzy

Thanks, Illoquin!

Seems I'll be up late, yet again, playing with the new toy. Hopefully I'll see a bunch of new babies tomorrow to add to the picture collection. It's so much more fun now that I can see them up close. My eyesight isn't great and I wouldn't be able to see the detail if it weren't for the pictures! Now I just have to figure out how to get really, really close shots. It's a hit and miss for me right now.

Every time you get frustrated with the hit & miss part, just step back and think about how hard this would have been just a few years ago -- we had to take the PICTURES, wait until we used up a whole roll of film, taken them in to the drugstore, WAIT for them to be developed, PAID for all of them, even the bad shots where the butterfly flew off. LOL! Kind of puts it in perspective.

Suzy

It really does! I can't tell you how many times I've thought of that just today. Technology....gotta love it!

Can't wait to take more pictures tomorrow and share.

Great pics K!!! Anxiously waiting for more.....


The one with the BST cat....looks like there is a bug...maybe assassin, down below him. See the eyes and antennae?

I smushed him!

Thanks, Fly!

Knolan, those are fantastic pics. My fave is the sulphur. I absolutely adore them.

say, does your camera "slim down" your human subjects? If so, I'm coming to your house to do some modeling.

Thanks, Vossner! I'm sure there's a feature on the camera, I just need to find it! I would like that for myself.

I just released 2 black swallowtails but they were too fast for me to get a picture.

Those BSTs are fast!!!! They aren't like the Monarchs, that seem to like posing before they leave. I can hardly get those BSTs to get out of the cage...they are so busy fluttering around trying to get out.....they really have things to do pronto!

Do you have a feature that smooths wrinkles? I need that one! Oohhh, and some face lift hoodoo?

Well, while we're building the perfect camera, I'd like to be about 5" taller and 40 pounds slimmer.

Kristi!
Congrats on your new camera! I love to play with mine! and I know what you mean about not being able to see the details! Whew! You said that you haden't gotten Sulphur cats...have you seen eggs? The babes are usually right down the center line of the newest growth. I'll send you some pictures if you'd like...


Adrienne

PS They're soooo easy to raise!

Congratulations Knolan, you are now hooked, but what a wonderful hobby it is.
I have released more than 50 butterflies this year, and I just love it,
Saw my first Queens yesterday.
Josephine.

Thanks all! I'm really having a lot of fun.

Adrienne, I've looked for sulphur eggs on my candlestick plant but can't seem to find any. But something is eating the leaves. Where, oh where are those cats? Yes, plese send me pictures so I can see exactly what to look for!

Knolan, congrats on the hobby and on the beautiful photos. I'm one of those without a digital camera, but attempting to photograph butterflies with a standard Canon is not easy. I will be putting a digital camera on my Christmas list. I am new to this hobby as well, and my 2nd GF eclosed just this morning. It's addictive, isn't it? :-)

Keep those photos coming.

Carla

Your doign real good with your camera lots better than me. I only know how to point and pres s the button. Anythign else and forget it.
I enjoye d looking at your photo's and looks like Fly girl and the others have taught you well. : )

What a fascinating hobby. I haven't raised any cats and can barely ID them but love the butterflies and try to photograph them now and again...

Very cool photos ~ Congrats Kristi ~ pod

Thanks guys! I'm really having fun taking pictures. Nothing I took today compared to yesterday's adventure.....ding dong me watched the tutorial that came with the camera and had me trying out all the different settings. None of them work as well as 'Automatic'. Operator error, I'm sure.

I noticed quite a few monarch eggs on my milkweed and one teeny weeny cat. Tried to get a picture of him but I was shaking too much. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Hi, knolan-- loved the great photos of your butterflies! You sure learn quickly!

Keep posting!

Well, I have quite a few new 'bug' pictures but not butterflies or cats. Seems like I was able to take better photographs before I learned the bells and whistles of the new camera. I'm going back to the 'automatic' settings for now and I'll take a class before I try anything fancy again.

How about a favorite doggy (my Socks) photo from an older camera:

Great pics Kristi!! You go girl!

:-)

Nice shot Carla!

Thanks, Deb!

Here's a cat I found this morning eating away on one of my brugs. I don't think I'll touch him....he looks like he can sting.

Awww, Socks is a cutie!

Kristi, If it was on my Brugs, I would move him somehow. Get a stick and scrape it into something and dump it over something you don't mind it eating. Some cats like that devoured my Peony before I could see them. They will eat lots of different plants, not picky at all. Now keep in mind I did say, it's what I would do. :-)
I love my Brugs!

:-Deb

Thanks, Deb. Actually, when I went back out there to look at him again, he was gone. Hope he's alright! He wasn't on the brug anywhere.

Your welcome Kristi,
He's probably alright..:-)

:-D

Knolan,
Attached is either a giant sulphur cat or an orange-barred giant sulphur cat. They both use my cassia/senna bush for a nursery and I can hardly tell them apart. At one time I thought I had a cross-breed between the two until Magpye straightened me out. The cross-barred is now resident in the Houston area. The chrysalises are hard to spot, but once you see one, you will readily see others. In the following post I will include a photo of chrysalis.

Regards,

Rod

Knolan,

Here is the chrysalis. These giants, both, can be reaised indoors. If you have them on a cassia bush, just keep bringing in cuttings that have the flowers - the eggs are placed on the flowers as that is their preferred food. When they are ready to emerge the chrysalis shell gets very transparent and you can fully see the new butterfly. Like the ST's they don't take long to dry their wings and fly.

Rod

Knolan,

Here is an adult orange-barred giant. Don't know where my brain was above calling them cross-barred. Mea culpa.

Rod

How beautiful! How on earth did you get him to land on your arm like that?

Here's a pretty little gray hairstreak I found today.

And a monarch baby.....

Rod.. That yellow cat is really awesoem to look at. Cool!!!!!!!! Ya almost don't se e him cuz he blend s with thos e yellow flowers so well. Never knew a cat coudl come in that bright of a yellow color. : )